Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, sat down with Jesse Waters on Fox News earlier this week for her first interview since her husband’s assassination.
Erika, who has taken over the reigns as president of Turning Point USA, recounted talking with her children about their father’s death, telling them Charlie had “gone on a work trip with Jesus.”
“I told [my daughter], ‘Daddy is in heaven.’ She goes, ‘You think I could go sometime?’ I said, ‘Baby, we will all go one day. We will all go one day.’”
Jesse asked Erika whether she feels safe after Charlie’s assassination.
“What are they gonna threaten me with? Going to heaven sooner to be with my husband?” she replied. “I’m not afraid. Charlie wasn’t afraid either. We never lived in fear; if we did, we wouldn’t get anything done.”
Erika also spoke with Jesse about the moment she first saw Charlie, already deceased, in the hospital after his murder.
“When we walked into that room, he had this smirk on his face,” Erika recounted with tears streaming down her face.
“That smirk to me is that look of, ‘You thought you could stop what I’ve built? You thought that you could end this vision, this movement, this revival? You thought you could do that by murdering me? You got my body. You didn’t get my soul.’”
You can watch the brief clip below:
In Erika’s interpretation of her husband’s facial expression, we find an important reminder: Death does not have the last word. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26, ESV).
All human beings are composed of the unity of body and soul. We are mortal bodies, and we are immortal souls which will never die.
Jesus taught, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28, ESV).
The state of our souls matters far more than the condition of our bodies. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins will our souls be saved, and our bodies resurrected and reunited with our souls, at the end of all things.
As the Apostle Paul wrote, “So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” (1 Cor. 15:42-43, ESV).
This reality is important to keep in mind as we face life’s trials, and especially the most difficult trial of death and the death of loved one’s – a reality Erika is walking through.
Erika received the first-ever Charlie Kirk Legacy Award on Thursday night at the Fox News Patriot Awards. She also accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor, from President Trump on Charlie’s behalf on October 14.
We thank Erika for modeling the virtue of Christian hope and speaking confidently about the faith she, Charlie and their children have in Jesus Christ.
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live’” (John 11:25, ESV).
To speak with a family help specialist or request resources, please call us at 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).
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Photo from Getty Images.
